Family and Education

b. 14 June 1634, 5th s. of Dennis Bond (d.1658), linen-draper, of Dorchester, Dorset and Lutton, being 3rd s. by 2nd w. Lucy, da. of William Lawrence of Winterbourne Steepleton, wid. of John Fley, vicar of Buckerell, Devon; half-bro. of John Bond and bro. of Samuel Bond. educ. Wadham, Oxf. 1650, BCL 1654; I. Temple 1653, called 1661. m. (1) 21 Dec. 1667, Elizabeth, da. and coh. of John Churchill, rector of Steeple 1637-82, s.p.; (2) 3 Aug. 1675, Mary, da. of Lewis Williams of Shittenton, Bere Regis, Dorset, wid. of Thomas Browne, of Frampton, Dorset, 2s.1

Offices Held

Fellow of All Souls, Oxford 1648; recorder, Weymouth 1673-d., Poole 1699-d.; commr. for assessment, Dorset 1673-4, 1690; bencher, I. Temple 1687; j.p. Dorset May 1688-9, by 1695-d.2

Serjeant-at-law 1689, King’s serjeant 1693-1702.

Biography

Bond’s ancestors were leasing Lutton, four miles from Corfe Castle, by 1510, and one of them sat for Weymouth in the Reformation Parliament. His grandfather bought the freehold of Lutton in 1616. His father, an Independent in religion and a radical in politics, represented Dorchester in both the Short and Long Parliaments. No doubt it was his interest that secured for Bond an All Souls fellowship from the visitors at the age of 14. He refused to act as one of the King’s judges, but under the Commonwealth he twice presided over the Council of State.3

Bond, a lawyer, inherited only a leasehold interest in Lutton, but he bought out his elder brothers and acquired much other land in Purbeck. He was returned for Corfe Castle as a country candidate at the second general election of 1679. A moderately active Member of the second Exclusion Parliament, he was appointed to four committees of special interest to his profession, the most important being the committee of inquiry into the proceedings of the judges, to which he was added on 26 Nov. 1680. He expected to be re-elected in 1681, but two court supporters were returned at Corfe, and he migrated to his father’s old constituency. But he played no known part in the Oxford Parliament.4

Though Bond had not been prominent in Parliament, he was sufficiently obnoxious to the court party to feel the weight of their resentment when times changed. At the winter assizes of 1684, the grand jury found a true bill against him for presenting to the rectory of Steeple a clergyman named Bold, who had been indicted for sedition as a result of a sermon against persecution. A letter of Bold’s was produced in which he wrote: ‘Do not stoop to nor be afraid of the Tories. ... Honest Protestants will not always be under a cloud.’ But in 1688 Bold was reported by the King’s electoral agents to be ‘very active for right elections in this county’, and no doubt his patron too was one of James II’s Whig collaborators. He was approved as a court candidate for Weymouth, but he failed to enter the Convention, though he was regarded as ‘very likely to be chosen for Dorchester’ in the by-election in December 1689 caused by the death of Gerard Napier. His petition against the successful candidate, Thomas Chafin, was never reported, and he did not regain the seat till 1695, when he usually voted with the Whigs.5

Bond died on 31 Aug. 1707 and was buried at Steeple. Both his sons sat for Corfe Castle as Whigs.6

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

• 1. Hutchins, Dorset, i. 602-3.
• 2. H. J. Moule, Weymouth Recs. 121; Hutchins, i. 36.
• 3. Hutchins, i. 604; Keeler, Long Parl. 111; D. Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 206.
• 4. Hutchins, i. 607; Prot. Dom. Intell. 22 Feb. 1681.
• 5. R. Morrice, Entering Bk. 1, pp. 432-3; 2, p. 673; CJ, x. 315.
• 6. Hutchins, i. 603.